A Path to Transformation:
Finding Balance between
Rational-Hellenistic and
Relational-Hebraic Worldviews

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by Harvey L. Diamond

In every sector of society people are searching for solutions. Our economic, social, political and religious arenas are being shaken, and people are seeking real solutions beyond political rhetoric and religious dogma to find hope.

Lincoln spoke before Congress one month before signing the Emancipation Proclamation words that may provide wisdom for us today: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.”

People have always yearned for guidance from their Creator. Many have found God’s Word an invaluable source of wisdom. Many people today, young people especially, long for spiritual reality and authentic standards of moral knowledge and authority. Unfortunately, many find it hard to relate to the forms of religion they see.

All people have a need to connect with a set of values and ethics or they will feel a deep gap in their soul. Unfortunately, the normative Judaeo-Christian ethics and values based on grace and truth that once shaped our thoughts and provided a greater sense of direction and stability have been largely lost.

Many religious-minded people don’t see that various strains of religious dogmatism have turned a generation further away from God—or at least from traditional religious expressions. So, what can we do to bring God into the equation of life in a real and relevant way?

One suggestion is to move from a dominant Greco-Roman (Hellenistic) perspective and interpretation of biblical concepts to understanding and applying a more relational, or holistic Hebraic/Christian view. What do I mean?

Seeing God’s View: the Width, Length, Depth and Height of His Love

One of Paul’s greatest passions was to help people apprehend and possess a strengthening view of the multi-dimensional nature of God’s love so they could be blessed in it. He earnestly prayed that you would be “strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

Paul’s multi-dimensional view came from his Hebraic upbringing! He was rooted in it. When he saw the light of Messiah on the way to Damascus, it penetrated his being, refocused his mind and transformed his life! He had deep knowledge of God before seeing the light, but the Holy Spirit changed his perspective—his framework in relating with God.  

You, too, can apprehend such a view. As the table below shows, a relational Hebraic perspective looks first to God as your Creator with whom you were designed to have a vertical relationship; then to the world you encounter through horizontal relationships.

By focusing and unifying your thoughts around the nature of God and His ways in such manner, you are at a better vantage point from which to relate to the complexities of the world He created. God, who is relational in nature, truly created you with such a capacity to relate with Him this way.

Expanding Your Capacity by Relating
with our Relational God

A relational perspective enables you to see a bigger picture of things and the parts as they relate and are relevant to the whole. This view inherently provides more insight than a limiting view of detached parts, for it enables you to see, unify and process dynamic and relational aspects of life around God’s purposes and designs. In such a way you apprehend God’s wisdom by tapping into God’s greater capacity; hence your capacity in God is expanded, empowering you to bear more quality and quantity of fruit.

Since God created you to relate with Him and His world, a solely rational approach (characterized by Hellenistic thought) toward interpreting Scripture and understanding God, while good, has inherent limitations. Why? God our Creator designed us with the capacity to relate with His nature and process from the inside-out. In other words, first see through God’s perspective—see and process through eyes of understanding by His Spirit in the heart; then relate outward to the world beyond you.

Man’s tendency, on the other hand, is to be drawn to outward appearances, and rationalize through the intellect in linear forms. There’s nothing wrong with this. Through such outside-in processing, however, we will deduce much, but fall short of apprehending deeper and wider perspectives of truths and achieving God’s best.

Think of it the way we saw computer databases develop. The original flat forms of databases have long been replaced by more robust multi-dimensional relational databases delivering mega-times the capacity and functionality!

Truly, appreciating a relational Hebraic biblical perspective (reflective of the Hebraic framework in which the Bible was written) can provide greater insight and clarity into God’s purposes and ways. After all, it was in this framework Paul said (in Romans 3:2) that the very oracles of God were committed to mankind and revealed.

Paul amplified his point in comparing God’s wisdom to man’s in this light: “the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew…But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)

Most people have been conditioned to see from a one dimensional perspective. All they see is what’s on the surface. They process from a limited linear or deductive perspective. By focusing strictly on surface things—things we think we see—we can be duped by mere illusions.

Eastern philosophies and religions in fact base much of their frameworks on the assumption that there only are illusions; hence seeing things relative to what they see as opposed to seeing real and relevant truth. As a result, such limited thought inherently ignores and voids any foundations of truth, leaving gaps of knowledge; bringing fear, insecurity and inner turmoil.

Friends, your DNA was created with an incredible capacity to glean revelation truth and wisdom from God’s Word. You were created to receive wisdom and knowledge direct from God! You truly have been given the capacity to connect with God’s Holy Spirit, and receive illumination and spiritual vision that can bear much fruit.

It simply takes eyes of faith and the help of the Holy Spirit. Before the Lord ascended to heaven He instructed His disciples how this happens:

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…(John 16:12-13)

Our challenge is to ask God to reveal His truth to us. "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-9)

Staying in Darkness or Seeing the Light?

The Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle made great contributions to many fields like science and mathematics. Unfortunately they got so caught up trying to rationalize God, that they missed understanding the nature of His Spirit and ways. Their thoughts, however, had significant influence upon Jewish and Christian theologians alike.

One such Jewish philosopher was Philo of Alexandria. Philo’s thoughts were embraced by Christians because he developed a form of philosophy that combined the popular teachings of Greek thinkers like Plato with those of the Jewish rabbis. One of his particular contributions was in the way he allegorized scripture and interpreted a popular line of thought termed dualism.

Dualism, popularized by Plato, at its root, distinguishes an inferior material world from a superior spiritual world. Along that line of thought, it sees man being composed of two distinct substances: a physical intellect and spiritual soul. Philo also saw God in two similar lights: a superior creator; and an administrative mediator he called Logos. He, therefore, separated God the Creator from the things He created—specifically man and the earth. He taught that only through science and reason could truth be found.

Since he separated God from His creations, Philo reasoned that scripture was not to be taken literally, but allegorically and figuratively. While the prophets often did use allegory to dramatize certain points—speaking in “parables” you might say—they did speak from multiple levels, and God does use such ways to train us in cultivating spiritual vision and grow in discernment.

Philo’s philosophy, however, promoted debates that divided streams of religious thought, rather than unifying them around God’s Word breathed by His Spirit. Such thought gave way to various strange doctrines and forms of mysticism, causing people to doubt God’s truths, and keep them from knowing His heart. Unfortunately, church reformers over the ages, while seeking truth, viewed the Scriptures largely through shaded lenses fogged in replacement theology, and therefore maintained various strains of these Hellenistic philosophies.

When the word of God is opened and revealed by the Spirit of God, however, one can’t help but see grace and truth from a clear perspective. God calls this open vision. Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, opened the door to heaven’s view. I pray you will allow God to open the eyes of your heart and pour in understanding of God’s truths.